How do I get more positives on my credit score?

[JustMarriedAndLovingIt]

I am looking to buy with DH this year and my score is currently 471/700. I have the following 10 positive things shown below and no negatives. The highest my score has ever been is 508 but it went down when we moved and had loads of credit checks for rent/utilities etc. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to get more positives and hopefully increase my score?

You have no Court or Insolvency data
You have no accounts in Default or Repossession
You have been on the Electoral Roll at your current address for a long time
You have made very few applications for credit in the past year
You have held at least one of your accounts for several years
You have very few / no accounts in arrears
Your largest credit card limit is relatively high
You have stayed within your credit card limit in the past year
Your total credit card % utilisation is relatively low
Your current Telecoms balance is relatively low

What that its not legal to discriminate between people who are lawful taxpayers of the country just based on their passport ?

you mean other than race discrimination, EU rules and religious discrimination laws ?

I have an NI number, and NHS number, a UTR and ILR status
the fact that I did not have a UK passport when buying houses is not a reason to refuse
if I meet all the other criteria

My score is about the same as yours with the same description. My mother's is in the 600s and she has £16,000 of loans and credit cards. I don't think it makes a bit of difference what you do to be honest she gets approval for 24 month interest free cards all the time.

talkin I’m not suggesting anyone is being discriminated against for not having a U.K. passport. I’m just asking if you have any proof when you say it’s illegal for lenders to refuse applicants credit because they’re not on the electoral register....... they’re two totally different things.

Do you have a link?

I understand the point and I was wrong they are not totally different things, I apologise, but being on the ER is the most solid way to prove your address and I don’t think it’s unlawful for lenders to want proof of an address before they lend thousands of pounds to people.

The issue you are describing would be a matter for the govt to resolve rather than punishing lenders, that’s just now realistic.

I get that you think it should be illegal to refuse people credit if they’re not on the ER, but is it?

(Apologies for the multiple pots, I wish there was an edit facility in this forum!)

19lottie
Electoral Roll is just one form of proof of address - one that is not available to millions of people in the UK

Do you seriously think that foreign nationals do not buy houses, rent houses, buy cars, take out loans, set up companies ?

Do you, really ?

Electoral Roll is one test.
When I had a lender give me grief for not being on it I took them to the ombudsman and they backed down PDQ and its a clear breach of all sorts of equality legislation.

talkin again, I get your point, I’m just trying to clarify if it’s actuLly illegal for lenders to refuse credit if someone isn’t on the ER? I don’t believe so but if you could provide any links, that would be v helpful.

Also, lenders aren’t under any obligation to tell applicants WHY they have been rejected, and generally don’t, so this could make matters v tricky in enforcing this.

Lottie
Lenders would have to prove they were not discriminating
that was the argument the ombudsman took in my case.
The onus was on them not me.

Electoral Roll is an incredibly poor cutoff in a country with a significant number of immigrants

The law rules out ethnic or religious discrimination
that includes discriminating on the basis of passport colour
especially when there are much better ways to assess credit rating

Talkin as I keep saying, I understand your point, but you’re not really answering my question, as repeated in my last post?

I have a similar score on clear score. But it is better than average in my area and for my age.

The best thing to do for better rates is increase your deposit.

There is no Law that says they cannot expect electoral roll
There are lots of laws that say they cannot discriminate

and when I took a case to the ombudsman he just had to mention "discriminatory practices" and they changed heir tune

It is not legal for lenders to discriminate against us immigrants just because we are immigrants
simple as that.

But the ER problem doesn’t apply solely to immigrants. Plenty of U.K. citizens choose not to be on it, or simply don’t have a fixed address.
As I keep saying I do get the point you’re trying but this hasn’t been recognised by the courts. The fact is that most lenders will reject if you’re not on the ER, but they won’t tell you why (if you were told this was the reason then that’s obviously in the minority of applications!), so), so even if it was directly unlawful then rejected applicants would have a hard time proving it.

The simple fact is not being on the ER = no credit (most of the time).
If this is discriminatory, as you claim, then maybe things will change in the future, but at the moment that’s how it works and I don’t see any of these lenders being sued.

I wouldn’t agree that your case means the lender is happy to admit they were directly discriminating. Maybe they just couldn’t be bothered with the hassle.

The simple fact is not being on the ER = no credit (most of the time).
Piffle.
Lots of immigrants own house, rent houses, buy cars.
You place an extraordinary amount of reliance on the electoral roll.
I deal with enough Democratic Services officers to know that your faith is misplaced.

talkin I’ve done a little research and found out that if someone cannot be legally added to the ER then they can add a note of correction explaining this which will be taken into consideration.

So I am partially wrong that you need to be on the ER, as this note of correction is considered acceptable as an alternative, but neither of these will usually result in a rejection of someone applies for credit.

So it isn’t unlawful for a lender to reject someone for not being on the ER as long as they have this note of correction? This can be used to avoid cases of discrimination, as you have discussed.

I do not know what rules they apply to new applicants now - I've not borrowed any money for ten years and I'm on the roll now

but I do know that non UK citizen friends have no problem with borrowing because the Roll is by no means the only criteria.

Proof of earnings is much, much more important to a lender

It’s no means the only criteria, but it is an important one!
At the end of the day, if the OP wants to improve her attractiveness to lenders then it would be very stupid to ignore it!

I’ve never been asked for proof of earnings when applying for credit, apart from when applythat big for mortgages.

“Applying for mortgages”...... stupid iPhone / fat fingers!

Fair enough.
I've had clients wanting to borrow money for who'm I've had to do accountants certs

Getting back to the OP though : Credit ratings are generally a con.

Well at least we agree on that!

We’ve just got a mortgage.
Experian score was 999/1000. Clear score was 250/700! Apparently it was low because I don’t have a credit card in my name.
Credit scores are marketing tools used by credit agencies. Your credit file that sits behind the score is more important, and all lenders will have different lending criteria. You may have a 700/700 credit score and a mortgage provider won’t lend to you because you don’t fit their particular criteria.

My "score" went up when I got a mortgage. DP's has only ever been the maximum on Noddle when he had a loan as well as the mortgage, but went back down to 4/5 after it was paid off.
The scores are totally irrelevant, and as people have said, different with every company. Experian has me as the maximum score, but Noddle (call credit) has me as 4/5.
If you don't have high debts, pay everything on time, don't incur bank charges, don't withdraw cash on a credit card and are on the electoral register, you're fine.

Yes my score has also gone up after getting a mortgage.